He thought about his words for a few seconds and spoke again, "You can stay here for now, there's plenty of space, but you'll have to help in the village, whether in the sawmills, in the forest, or whatever is needed."
I turned my head toward Rowan and he did the same, I looked at him with doubt, urging him to respond. I agreed with what Edric was saying, but I also wanted to know my brother's opinion.
He looked back at the old man. "We really appreciate it, but… why are you doing this?"
Edric replied, "I simply want to help you, even if it's just a little. Besides… you're just kids." He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "You're surrounded by a very strange and unique situation. Not having any memory of your past is very unusual, and to that we must add that you are shockers from birth, which brings me to my second point."
He looked from my brother to me, and then from him back to me. "I want to train you so you can control the pulsar."
"Thank you, sir, we really appreciate your kindness," Rowan said.
"No sir, just Edric, or whatever you like."
We nodded, and I spoke. "Train us?"
"Yes, I want to train you in the art of Pulsar, to control your energy and, above all, to teach you how to fight. You may have forgotten everything, but it's something vital that you must learn, because if there's one thing this world has, it's that it's not safe at all."
"I really appreciate it, si—Edric. When do we start this 'training'?"
Edric put a hand on his chin and thought. "Hmm, how about now? Let's see what you can do so I can get an idea of where to start. Follow me."
We stood up along with him and began following him through the house. As I had noticed before, it was quite large, at least for a village house. Once we crossed the house, we reached a large yard that opened toward a dense forest. There was what looked like a shed and not much else.
We walked straight toward it. Edric took out a key and opened the padlock on the door, gestured for us to wait, and went inside to get something. He came out a few minutes later with what looked like a straw dummy and three wooden swords. He placed the dummy in a separate area and offered us the weapons.
"These are training swords. They have a steel core to resemble the weight of a real one." He pointed toward the dummy and spoke again. "To start, hit it however you can. You first, Luke."
I approached the dummy and took a stance. I clumsily raised my sword to chest height, pulled it back diagonally, and struck with all the strength I could muster.
When the blade hit the dummy, I stumbled a bit, and I couldn't hit the target properly due to my wobbling. To be honest, it was quite heavy.
"Good, now you, Rowan."
My brother walked toward the dummy and positioned himself. It was similar to when we fought that panlagor on the forest path—he was firm and without any trembling. After that, he pulled his arms back and delivered a strike, hitting the right arm of the figure.
Edric evaluated us for a second and spoke. "You, Luke, it's quite obvious that you've never held a sword in your hands." I looked down in embarrassment, but he continued. "There's nothing wrong with that, you'll simply learn."
"On the other hand, Rowan… it's clear that you did use one before. Even though your guard is mediocre and the strike you threw had no real technique… your muscles look comfortable with the grip of a sword."
"Now, I'll show you a basic practice movement, and I want you to follow it. Then repeat it as many times as you can." Edric raised his sword, stepped forward, and made a clean cut—no excessive force, just a simple stroke with the sword.
It looked simple, so I imitated it.
"Ouch." After stepping forward and making the cut, I lost my balance and fell forward, lightly hitting my arm.
"Pff… are you okay, kid?" I thought I heard a small laugh, but I ignored it.
"Yes, it was nothing."
"Keep trying. Try not to use so much force when making the cut. Make it slower but more precise."
As I got up to try again, I looked to the side. There was my brother doing it as well. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better than mine. His sword barely wobbled, and he performed the cuts over and over again.
With a bit more motivation to keep up with him, I positioned my sword in front of me and began moving it.
About two hours later, I was sitting on the ground, completely exhausted. I managed to perform the movement a little over three hundred times. It was far from perfect, but at least I didn't fall anymore when trying. Rowan was next to me, somewhat out of breath, but in much better shape than I was.
"Well done, both of you. Starting tomorrow, you'll do this every day at the same time." He looked in my direction. "And you, Luke, your physical condition is quite pitiful. Go out running every morning to improve your endurance."
I laughed awkwardly and nodded, then spoke. "When will we learn to use that 'pulsar energy' and all that?"
"More patience, kid. First you need to learn the basics of combat. Now go inside and rest, I'll prepare dinner."
We ate a very tasty stew that the old man cooked—something he did very well, which I truly didn't expect. After that, I went with my brother to the room Edric had given us. It was quite spacious, with two beds, a wardrobe, and a small table with some chairs.
It was already quite late, so as soon as I went in, I chose one of the beds and threw myself onto it. I fell asleep immediately due to exhaustion and sleepiness.
When I woke up, I ate some bread and went out to jog. After an hour, I headed toward the center of the village looking for work. Since it wasn't a large village, I went straight to where the old man had pointed me—the bar. That's where they posted job offers, if there were any.
When I arrived, I briefly greeted Miles and went to one of the nearby sawmills. They needed one more helper to work the wood.
"Good morning," I said as I walked through the door.
An older woman with blond hair set down the pile of wood she was carrying and replied, "Oh, good morning. What can I offer you?"
"I read at the bar that you needed someone to cut logs."
"Of course. If you'd like to work here, I'd be happy to have you." She looked at me carefully and spoke again. "You're one of the boys who came with Edric yesterday, aren't you?"
"Yes, that's me. My name is Luke, and the other boy is my brother. His name is Rowan."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Luke. My name is Myriam. I'm glad you'll be working here from now on. Your wage will be one cento per hour of work—usually three or four hours, depending on how much wood the logging groups bring."
That was about one coroa a month. It wasn't much, but I don't have anyone to support, and this is a small village, so it was actually quite good.
"I have no problem with that."
"Good. Follow me to the back."
I followed Mrs. Myriam to the backyard. One side was full of dry logs, and on the other there was a large pile of cut pieces covered by a big cloth. She explained that she specialized in making firewood and showed me how to work.
Four and a half hours later, I was walking back toward the house. Today was a lot of work because she had accumulated wood, which was why they were looking for someone else. I met her husband, who worked with me in the sawmill. He told me that their son was part of the group of loggers and that they had a young daughter, along with other unimportant things about the village.
When I arrived, I rested for a while until Edric returned. He called Rowan and me to the yard and began explaining another movement. This one was somewhat more complex—it required more strength and precision, although it was quite similar to the previous one.
He told us not to rush with the second movement. We had to master the first one before moving on, but he said it wouldn't take us long.
***
That was my routine during the last two weeks. It took me about six days to master the first movement. Edric said he was a bit surprised. When I replied that my brother only took three days, he simply explained that even though Rowan had no memories, his body already had experience, so it was natural that it took him less time. Even so, he told me not to get overconfident and to keep practicing, since that movement was the simplest of all.
On day sixteen, Edric was waiting for us in the yard. Today, supposedly, he was going to start teaching us about pulsar.